It’s time we settled the debate between electric mobility and conventional internal combustion (IC) engine vehicles. The AQI numbers during the lockdown, followed by clear blue skies have made it quite evident that we need a cleaner transportation system to live amid the pandemic.

As people continue to practice social distancing and plan to commute amidst fear, there will be a drastic behavioural change towards public transport like buses, metros and shared mobility like Ola and Uber. Many industry experts believe that private vehicle ownership may pick up to some extent in the coming days. However, a few even suggest that industry stakeholders, both private and public should adapt to a cleaner urban mobility system.

This, in a way, also calls for an even faster adoption to electric mobility and work out a plan to fuel the electric vehicle market. According to ResearchesAndMarkets, the global electric vehicle infrastructure market — post-Covid-19 — is expected to reach 4.18 Mn units by 2021 from an estimated 3.42 Mn units in 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.1%. Further, the report revealed that the projection for 2021 is expected to be down by 34% as compared to pre-Covid-19 estimation.

Citing a Harvard report, Sohinder Gill, CEO of Hero Electric recently said that the adverse effect of air pollution particularly the PM 2.5 from IC vehicles, on Covid-19 patients was an eye-opener. He said that in the ‘new normal’ era, consumer focus will be towards sustainable mobility options, preference of sensibly priced electric two-wheelers and reluctance in going back to the overcrowded public transport system.

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EV News Of The Week

India To Experiment With Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered EVs

In an attempt to decarbonise mobility, power utility company NTPC recently announced that it was inviting Global Expressions of Interest to develop hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. In the process, NTPC aims to deploy ten hydrogen-powered buses and ten hydrogen-powered cars in Delhi and Leh. This project will be supported by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Also, power utility companies look to harness renewable energy for the generation of hydrogen and develop storage and dispensation facilities.

In a bid to curb the fear of unemployment and uncertainty, South-Korean automaker Hyundai Motor India launched a new programme called ‘Hyundai EMI Assurance,’ which has been introduced to select new customers, covering up to three car loan EMIs. Under this initiative, the customer during uncertainties such as employment loss, lead by poor financial health or acquisition or merger of the company or due to any applicable laws can be eligible to purchase the vehicle. This is applicable on all models except Creta, Elantra, Tucson and Kona EV.

Tarun Garg, director of sales, marketing and services said that new owners working in private companies should have peace of mind during these tough times and through this initiative, they plan to create positive and confident sentiments among customers.

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Creating a profitable business model in Covid-19 era is hard. However, with ecommerce companies looking to scale up business post-Covid-19, there is a huge opportunity that lies ahead of the companies, where they can integrate existing logistics functions with the electric vehicle backed model. In other words, this is a hugely demanding service industry which offers decent margins and business scale.

Unleashing the power of electric mobility, a robust business could be developed by jointly working between ecommerce companies and EV service providers. All in all, the business has scale and scope, technology, bandwidth, financial leverage and ultimately value for the investors.

EV Headlines From Around The World

Chinese electric vehicle startup Xpeng recently launched the p7 sedan. Interestingly, p7 is the first-of-a-kind production vehicle which has incorporated an automated driving system called the Nvidia’s NVIDIA Xavier System on a Chip (SoC). This system was designed as a next-generation single-chip follow-up to Nvidia’s popular Drive PX2 development compute platform, which is used for automated driving. One of the advantages of this, compared to previous systems is that the new SOC helps accelerate deep learning functions multifold.

Volkswagen To Launch Affordable, Long-range EV ID.3 Soon

German carmaker Volkswagen is planning to launch its affordable, long-range electric car ID.3 soon. Sales director of Volkswagen, Jürgen Stackmann, in a Twitter post, said that the sweet, sweet anticipation is coming to an end and their ID.3 1st pre-bookers can order their car from June 17, 2020. “You will be contacted by your dealer shortly! Thanks for your patience!” he added.

Author

Amit Raja Naik is a business journalist for Inc42 Media. A startup enthusiast, who loves to write about technology, people, process, culture and more. You can also find him regularly performing shows with his music band in Bengaluru, India.